Thrissur: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today (Mar 11, 2004) kept up his attack on the Congress, charging that party with behaving "irresponsibly" as the main Opposition after putting up an "abysmally poor" performance as the ruling party for five decades.

Addressing a meeting at the historic Thekkinkad Maidan in the cultural capital of Kerala as part of his 'Bharat Uday' yatra, Advani lambasted the Congress and Communist parties for challenging the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) claim that India had progressed well in vital areas under Atal Bihari Vajpayee's leadership.

The leap made by India was recently acknowledged by 'Financial Times', London. If the Congress and the Communist parties had any doubt about 'India shining', they should write to the reputed financial daily saying that India was not awakening but slumbering, Advani said.

Accusing the Congress of playing a "negative as well as irresponsible role" as the main Opposition, he said this was sharply different from the constructive approach adopted by Vajpayee when he was in the Opposition.

When the late Indira Gandhi led the country to victory in the war with Pakistan, the erstwhile Jan Sangh under Vajpayee's leadership had no difficulty in openly acknowledging that. In sharp contrast, the Congress chose to find fault with Vajpayee when he led the nation to victory in the Kargil war, Advani said.

Advani also had brief stopovers at Chalakkudi and Puthukkad in the district.